Russian Aquaculture earnings up 36%

Debt, biomass picture change, but doubled revenue drives earnings

Russia’s largest commercial fish producer, the salmon-farming Russian Aquaculture, said it achieved an adjusted EBITDA of RUB 2.1 billion (EUR 27.1 million) for all of 2017, a 36-percent increase over 2016, when it sold its wild-fish business, Russian Fishery Company.

“2017 was a landmark year for the Company: strong operating cash flow and proceeds from SPO allowed us to significantly reduce net debt and increase equity capital,” said Russian Aquaculture CEO, Ilya Sosnov, in a statement.

Debt picture
Russian Aquaculture farms salmon and trout in the artic Kola Peninsula and had an eventful 2017 that included fund-raising and borrowing. The latter activity increased long-term debt threefold to RUB 1.15 billion (EUR 15 million), although net debt of RUB 742.4 million (EUR 9.7 million) was far less than the RUB 3,166.1 million that remained by New Year’s Eve, 2016.

The higher full-year earnings, meanwhile, came on revenue that more than doubled during the year to RUB 5.0 billion (EUR 65.4 million). The year’s highlight was the harvest of its August-2016 generation.

Biomass
“The most significant change in the financial position of the Company in 2017 was due to the sale of most of the commercial product of the farms in the Barents Sea and a corresponding reduction in the value of biological assets,” management told investors on Thursday.

Company operating EBIT-per-kilogram for the full-year was RUB 178.5/kg (EUR 2.34/kg) which management said was “in-line” with industry leaders and up eight percent year-on-year.

Emboldened, the company said stocking for 2018 is underway and contracts for smolt and fry have been arranged and are 40-percent financed.